Coby CV198 Noise Cancelling Headphones

Budget studio cans

I front a band (the Deathbillies) and we rehearse in three separate studios with JamHub headphone mixers. After a lot of trial and error, I’ve developed the following requirements for headphones for live rehearsal: 1) A single-sided cord, so you can throw the cord behind your back, and it doesn’t get in the way of the guitar or drumsticks. 2) A detachable industry-standard 1/4″ or 1/8″ male-to-male cord that you can replace with any other standard male-to-male 1/4″ or 1/8″ male-to-male cord. 3) Full-size earcups, but not so big that they trap humidity.

The Coby CV198 wins on all three, and at about $30 they’re a bargain. I have at least 10 pairs of these headphones spread across three studios. They use a noise-cancellation system powered by an included AAA battery (but are great without the cancellation turned on).

The only drawbacks to these headphones are that they require a battery to work in any mode, and inserting the battery requires some patience and deductive logic. Also, the included 1/8″ stereo cable is really short, but as the cord is detachable and replaceable with any 1/8″ stereo cable you like I’ll be happy to replace the $1.50 cable instead of discarding the headphones when they short at the hardwire cable connection (which is how even the $300 high-end headphones tend to fail.)

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